Dark Experimentation
by Shenja the Ninja
Summary: Eggman is back at it again but has he gone too far this time? He has captured Amy Rose but instead of just using her as bait, he has a different plan. Not only is Sonic put to the test, but also his friends. Can Sonic stop him this time and save Amy? Will there be any Amy left to save? This takes place after Sonic Forces. Rated M for blood and violent themes.
1. Chapter 1: A Vacation

Author's Notes: I'm back...again. After 2 or 3 years of soul searching, I've decided to continue writing fanfics.  
I hope you all like it. I also put in music references from previous Sonic games to help with moods but mostly character introductions. Disclaimer: Sonic and co. are owned by Sonic Team. Also the music is not mine (even though it's awesome) or the games.

* * *

Chapter 1: Vacation

(It Doesn't Matter/Sonic Adventure)

Sonic, the hero everyone thought passed on, was zipping through Green Hill Zone. He wanted to spend his time doing what he loved: running. The sunlight allowed his quills to glow as they were at the mercy of the wind. The hedgehog had his trademark smirk on his face.

* * *

 **Earlier...**

Tails grabbed his toolbox and started to study the Tornado. While he was scrutenizing the plane, he thought about what happened a few months ago. Everyone thought Sonic died but Eggman's hubris kept him alive. He wanted Sonic to see a world under his rule.

"Fortunately, Egghead just imprisoned him. Otherwise, I don't know how I would still be here, happily tinkering away," Tails thought with a smile as he observed one of the plane's wing.

As Tails was getting lost in his work, he didn't notice Sonic looking at him with an innocent grin.

"Hey, Tails. Whatcha doin'," he asked while eating a chili dog.

"Oh. Hey, Sonic. I didn't see you there. Are you going on your morning run," the yellow fox asked while picking up a wrench.

Sonic finished eating his snack and pat his belly to show his satisfaction.

"Yeah. Why? Is there something wrong, Tails?"

"I just thought you needed more rest. You just saved the world!"

Sonic looked at Tails with a puzzled expression.

"But I always do that. What's so different from those other times," Sonic asked as he started to stretch.

"Well I thought you were a goner, Sonic. I...um...we were worried when you were captured by Infinite," Tails struggled to say to his hero.

Sonic's usual casual expression faded as he felt guilt. He didn't realize his best friend was still trying to process what happened. Tails looked deflated as he thought of the mornings of waking up and sitting in his room where only pictures of Sonic provided a little comfort. The world felt like it was crumbling down. He even started doubting his abilities and stopped working on his projects.

"It's okay, Tails. I'm here now," Sonic said as he noticed a tear rolling down his cheek.

He was surprised when the child ran up to him to give his hero a hug. It felt more like he was holding on to Sonic tightly so he wouldn't leave him. Tears were all over his fur, making him feel a bit heavy. Slowly, the hedgehog gently loosened Tails' grip so he could get his attention. Tails looked up at Sonic's eyes with his own teary and sore eyes.

"You know what, little buddy? There's this game I bought for us to play but I could never figure out the right time for us to play it together," he said as he patted the top of his friend's head.

The fox started to smile and he slowly let go of Sonic.

 **On Angel Island...**

(Unknown from M.E./Sonic Adventure)

A red haired echidna was watching channels through the Master Emerald (reference: Sonic Adventure) while relaxing on a folding chair. It was a very sunny day and the birds were singing as Knuckles was channel surfing. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"I love the peace we fought for...but I can't help but be bored. I'm practically falling asleep here," he thought with his eyes partially opened.

Suddenly, he jumped out of his chair and shook his head to wake himself.

"What am I saying? What gives me the right to relax when there are creeps like Eggman out there. All I did was watch as the world was taken over instead of leading the effort to stop him a lot sooner! I feel so useless! I can't even punch anything," Knuckles yelled before gritting his teeth and clenching his gloved fists.

The angry echidna took out a remote and a small cube. He threw the device on the ground and smoke started to come from it. When the smoke cleared, a blue and yellow robot appeared.

"Guard the emerald while I'm gone, okay," Knuckles commanded.

"Yes, sir," the machine replied as it readied its gun.

Knuckles smiled and thought, "I'm glad Tails let me use this thing."

He took out a handful of rings and started to count them.

"This should be enough for a couple of punching bags," he said to himself.

 **At G.U.N. Headquarters...**

(Fly in the Freedom/Sonic Adventure 2)

The GUN commander sat at his desk and looked at the reports Rouge gave him on Eggman's activity. The bat waited patiently for his answer with Shadow at her side with his arms folded.

"Hmmm. So Eggman is doubling his robot production and manufacturing a couple of paralysis weapons. Not only that, but a...hedgehog sanctuary," the man said, befuddled.

"Yes, we had the same reaction when we discovered it. He has been harboring a species of hedgehogs that seem to be unlike Shadow and Sonic," Rouge said as she glanced at her partner.

Shadow didn't know how to react when he saw them. They were small and crawled instead of walked. He never thought Eggman could surprise him until Rouge and him checked out his base yesterday.

"Is he doing anything to harm or robotize them," the commander asked as he was still in disbelief.

"No. He isn't even trying to chemically alter them. Eggman just played with them," Shadow said while trying to hide his shock.

He let out a sigh and said, "Find out why he is increasing production and what he plans to do with the stasis weapons."

"Yes, sir," Shadow and Rouge said simultameously with a salute.

 **At the Metropolis base...**

(E.G.G.M.A.N. OST Version/Sonic Adventure 2)

Orbot and Cubot watched Eggman play with hedgehogs.

"Hey, boss. Don't you hate hedgehogs like Sonic," Cubot asked as he scratched his head.

Orbot was agreeing with Cubot.

"Maybe he's finally cracked," Orbot whispered to Cubot.

Eggman took his eyes off of the little creatures and turned his attention to his creations.

"Yes, I still hate that meddling blue pest because he is actually a threat to my plans. These hedgehogs, on the other hand, do not have the capability to possess the same characteristics. They only follow instinct instead of any sort of complex cognition," he explained with a toothy grin.

"But sir, we still don't get why you have them here," Orbot said, confused.

"Yeah. You would usually be working on some plot that ends with you getting beaten by Sonic or being betrayed by some god you tried to control," Cubot chimed.

Eggman started to walk towards the two bots while they slowly hovered backwards. Then he stopped walking and started to groom his mustache with his hands.

He laughed and snapped his fingers. A robot carrying a stack of paper work activated and brought the sheets to him.

"Read 'em and weep boys," he said as he commanded the robot to hand them to the frightened Cubot and Orbot.

"When I'm done programming the robots, we will start the first steps. This time I'm not using a god's power or suffering defeat at the hands of Sonic. Now we have Infinite and three Chaos Emeralds. The plan will be perfect. Infinite," Eggman shouted into the communicator.

The mercenary floated into the room.

"What are your orders," Infinite asked the mad scientist.

 **Back at Tails' workshop in Central City...**

Sonic was playing Sonic Colors with Tails. They were taking turns and laughing while talking about light topics.

"I still can't believe someone would document all of our adventures and turn it into a game series," Tails said while watching Sonic try to beat a level.

"I can't believe it either. It's so surreal. The jokes could be a bit much. And I'm not that cocky. Right, Tails," Sonic asked while making a goofy grin.

The fox just looked at him and then the Sonic on the game. He laughed to himself.

"What's so funny, little buddy?"

"Nothing, Sonic," Tails said as he tried to hold his laughter.

He only managed to hold it in for a few seconds. Then, Sonic joined in. After about a minute of laughing, Tails' smile slowly turned into a frown. The hedgehog knew something was wrong.

"Are you okay," he asked with a tone that made him sound more like a concerned older brother rather than his best friend.

"I just wonder if Eggman is escalating. And I wanted to ask you if...um..."

"You can ask me anything."

"Okay," Tails took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before he asked, "If Eggman did something horrible to Knuckles, Amy, or me...w-what would you do to him?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Sonic never wanted anyone to ask this question. He never thought of Eggman as a challenge or a threat until he was defeated by one of his mercenaries. The mad doctor could have done anything to him. If he managed to conquer the entire world, Eggman would show him as the ultimate insult before executing him. When Sonic escaped with a little help from a rookie, he pondered this as he was running through the prison hall near the Death Egg.

* * *

 **A few months ago...**

Sonic's hands were shackled and he was behind bars. He didn't know what to do. Eggman never actually captured him before or sent anything that could defeat him. Zavok or the illusion of the Zeti walked up to his cell with a grin. Sonic did his usual cocky grin to hide his anxiety.

"Hello, Sonic. It seems as if you were too slow this time," he said with a little chuckle.

"Long time no see, Zavok. I thought I defeated you on the Lost Hex."

The Zeti kept smiling while Sonic was still in the dark about his situation.

"It seems your arrogance has blinded you. Too bad I can't stay and chat. I have other business to take care of."

When the illusion was no longer in Sonic's view, it disappeared into thin air. After a couple of minutes, he was greeted by a familiar masked jackal.

(Battle with Infinite-First Bout/Sonic Forces)

"Hello, rodent. I hope you're getting used to your living arrangements because this is where you will stay until Eggman's glorious empire is complete," he said with a smile hidden behind his mask.

"I don't think so. My friends will come and rescue me," Sonic replied with a more serious expression.

"Forgive me if I have a hard time believing that. Dr. Eggman's data suggested that they were nothing but minor obstacles. Maybe that's why you always insist on fighting alone. You know this is true," he said before he laughed.

Sonic didn't know how to respond. He knew that he was right. His friends only watched as he fought. Even his more capable friends like Shadow, Silver, and Blaze only cheered him on when he was fighting the Time Eater with his past self.

"Now I have to go. There's another hedgehog that seeks to get in the way of the doctor's plans," he said before walking off.

Sonic's only company was flickies that Eggman kept locked up to be roboticized later and his thoughts.

"*sigh* I guess I will have to find out all of the answers when I get out of here," he thought.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Sonic's hope of escaping slowly started to erode along with his faith in his friends. Then the hedgehog's head started to hurt one day. His memories started to change. He remembered Tails cowering in fear as Chaos Zero approached him and an impaired Omega. Then he homing attacked the fake Chaos.

"Classic must be here but why," Sonic asked as he closed his eyes and tried to remember.

He was kind of happy to have something to distract him from his current situation.

* * *

 **The day of the rookie's rescue mission...**

(Fitting Room/Sonic Forces)

An operative from the newly formed organization with a wispon started to traverse all of Eggman's traps. They were wearing a hat and had bangs to hide their face. Their loose fitting clothing didn't help when determining their species. The agent didn't talk much, making it hard to discern a gender but it was perfect for hiding the Resistance's intel.

"Alright, rookie, it's all up to you now," Knuckles said on a comm device.

The agent only nodded in agreement before the transmission finished.

 **In the Prison Hall...**

(Death Egg: Prison Hall/Sonic Forces)

Sonic sat on the cot in the cell awaiting rescue or execution. If he was going to be executed, today would be the day since Eggman took over most of the world, seemingly unopposed. His eyes were closed as he kept remembering his younger self going through one of Eggman's bases. It was all he could really do to pass the time. Then to his surprise, his cuffs were finally taken off. The cobalt hedgehog opened his eyes to see Zavok opening his cell. After replying to Zavok's words with his usual snarky attitude, he dodged an attack and ran to a more suitable battlefield.

 **Meanwhile...**

The rookie finally made it to the prison hall to see Sonic waiting for them, unscathed.

"What took you so long," Sonic asked casually which surprised the operative.

They heard that Sonic was tortured but he seemed fine.

"Could he have been so traumatized that he doesn't want to remember or maybe the intel was wrong," the rookie thought while escorting Sonic out of the prison.

* * *

 **Present Day...**

"I never answered Tails' question. I just made up an excuse and said that I had to go on a food run. The truth is I don't know how to answer it. Eggman has done a lot of horrible things to the planet but he never really did anything to harm my friends psychologically or even came close to killing them. He almost killed me but it was never really them. But what if he did do something to them that couldn't be reversed or fixed with a few jokes and light humor? I always believed I was invincible but what if I screwed up? Who would stop him from destroying everything? My friends don't even fight with me and it took them months to actually make a dent in Eggman's plans. Even then, someone who was new to fighting Eggman did more than them," Sonic thought as he leaped through the air to see the beautiful landscape.

 **At Amy's house...**

(My Sweet Passion/Sonic Adventure)

Amy woke up from her dream. There was a huge blush on her face. She sat up and didn't see Sonic with her. She was disappointed but it didn't stop her from trying to get the actual hedgehog to date her. The young hedgehog started to get ready for the day. She changed out of her night gown and put on her boots.

"I have so many things planned for today. I barely know where to start. Maybe I should go see Sonic first to see if he is okay. Tails too. He hasn't been the same since Sonic was captured a couple of months ago. After that, I have to go see Cream so I can train her. I'm still not sure if Cream should be fighting Eggman with us but she insisted," Amy thought as she was brushing her teeth and styling her quills.

The pink hedgehog was about to leave when she heard a knock. What Amy saw when she opened the door almost had her out of breath. Her visitor was Sonic. He was holding flowers indigenous to the Green Hill Zone. Amy wanted to cry tears of joy. She waited for this moment for years and she didn't know what to say.

"Amy, I'm sorry for running away from you. I did that because I didn't know how to express my feelings to you but I'm here now and that's all that matters," Sonic said as he handed her the flowers.

She was understandably hesitant but accepted them. The girl was overwhelmed by the situation.

"Are you alright, Amy," he asked with concern as she was about to burst into tears, "Maybe I should take you somewhere nice so you could relax. You seem very tense."

"I'm...f-fine but I guess I could go somewhere nice with you," she struggled to say before he held her hand.

Amy was blushing as Sonic and her took a nice stroll through the forest. After a few minutes of hearing nothing but the birds sing and the sound of their shoes as they stepped on a few pebbles, the pair finally made it to a beautiful waterfall. The pink hedgehog looked around at this lovely scenery. The sunlight allowed the leaves on the trees to glow and the woodland creatures were so adorable. It truly looked like a haven for anyone trying to unwind.

"This place is really beautiful," she said as she sat on a rock.

Sonic sat next to her and they looked at the waterfall together. While Amy was being blown away by the sight of the waterfall, she didn't notice someone hiding behind a tree. Infinite was watching them and waiting for his moment. The Phantom Ruby prototype was gleaming in his chest. He just needed a bit more time.

"Well, I really think our time together has been great, Sonic, but I promised Cream that I would spend time with her today," she said as she stood up and dusted herself off.

Sonic grabbed her wrist.

"But Amy, I want to spend more time with you," he pleaded as he continued to pull her wrist.

"I'm...sorry...but...I need...to train Cream," she shouted between breaths as she tried to get out of his iron grip.

He continued to pull her towards him. Amy gritted her teeth and started to get angry.

"What is wrong with you," she asked angrily as they continued the aggressive game of tug-of-war.

Infinite saw a drone above them with a big cage. The jackal finally came out and pulled out a stasis rifle. Amy was too preoccupied with Sonic to notice him aim at her. He finally positioned it and pulled the trigger. Sonic finally let her go and disappeared. Before Amy could react to Sonic vanishing, a blinding beam of light struck her chest. Her body fell and she was horrified to see a cage fall from above. She closed her eyes and heard the cage's impact with the ground. Amy could hear the sound of it closing below her while carrying soil and rocks.

Infinite hovered near the cage floating with the help of a sturdy drone and a thick tether. He saw his captive's frightened face. Her eyes showed her growing fear. The jackal wish he could hear her screams but she couldn't move her mouth or any part of her body. He settled for her tears instead.

"Now that meddling rat will try to save her. But if 'his' plan works, she may be beyond saving along with this pathetic world," he thought with a sadistic smile.


	2. Chapter 2: Crimson Glow

Chapter 2: Crimson Glow

 **At Eggman's base (Early Evening)...**

The pink hedgehog awoke in a strange room. There were white walls with white tiling on the floor. Everywhere she looked, there was nothing but white.

"Where am I," Amy asked, expecting a reply.

There was no noise to be heard.

"Am I really in Eggman's base? He usually puts me in a clear glass case with a couple of holes so I could breathe. This time, I'm in an empty room," she said to herself.

Amy tried to find a door but everything was just pure white. Even if she found the door, that is most likely camouflaged by the walls, it would be locked. When she was just about to give up, the hedgehog had an idea. A hammer appeared in her hand. She gripped it as tight as she could and pounded the walls with all of the strength she had.

"There's no point in trying to use that hammer to break out of here. My robots recorded your data which allowed me to know how durable I should make the lab's walls. Pretty ingenious, don't you think," he asked through the hidden intercom.

"Eggman, where am I," Amy asked while trying to once again find the exit.

"I just told you. It is one of my many laboratories. You're a very fortunate little rodent. You may be the only person to witness my latest masterpiece."

"This doesn't look like a lab. Shouldn't there be beakers or metal pieces all over the place," she asked before a part of the wall budged.

It was the door, but it was locked to her dismay.

"That may be true in that little fox's lab but you're talking to the genius who took over most of the world. No, this room is very special. This new laboratory is actual divided into many different parts. The room you are currently in is one of those pieces. Unfortunately for you, this sector is called 'Death'," Eggman said before he started his ridiculous evil laugh that slowly became a violent cough.

Amy felt a chill up her spine as she heard the moniker that Eggman gave to this room.

"Why is it called that," she reluctantly asked while holding her hammer even tighter.

"Death is such an interesting word. It can be used in so many instances and yet people usually think of their deceased family members or friends. The term can mean more than that. The death of an idea, civilization, tradition, or ego is what I think of when I hear that word."

"Are you going to kill me," Amy asked while her heart started to beat faster.

After Amy asked the question that filled her body with dread, Eggman stopped the transmission.

 **At the Mystic Ruins...**

The former Resistance operative was in a hammock, relaxing from their hike. The sunset was breath taking. They felt the beautiful view made travelling through the swamp and getting attacked by tons of mosquitoes almost worth it. A subtle breeze blew through their soft yellow fur. They slowly took of their hat to reveal a pair of fox ears. The fox looked around to see if anyone was watching. When the nameless agent thought the coast was clear, they started to change out of their plain red shirt and jeans and into a comfortable pair of red pajamas. After that, they fixed their bangs and put their cap back on to continue to hide their face.

The fox decided to take a little nap and started to dream about their last day of being a part of the Resistance.

* * *

 **A few months ago...**

Sonic and the 'rookie' said their farewells before heading out to different directions. While the fox ran, they saw a twinkle in the sky. It was heading in the direction of Mystic Ruins.

* * *

 **Present Night...**

Sonic unlocked the door and walked into Tails' home. He was surprised to see him still working on the Tornado's wing.

"Hey, Tails. I'm back," the hedgehog said before sparks started to fly out of the wing.

"Darn it," Tails shouted as the wing started to fall.

Tails jumped off of his scissor lift before the wing collapsed. The irate fox then used his tails to slowly descend. When he landed, Tails looked at the source of his anger.

"I can't do anything right," Tails said with frustration and tears coming out of his eyes.

Sonic felt bad for his friend. He went over to try to put his hand on his little buddy's shoulder but Tails jumped back.

"No. I don't deserve it."

"Tails, just calm down."

"I'm so useless."

"You're not useless, Tails. You have invented so many wonderful things that helped us take down Eggman," the hedgehog said, trying to cheer him up.

"I crashed the Tornado a bunch of times, made a device to communicate with the wisps only for it to finally work correctly when we didn't need it anymore, almost ruined our plan to put a fake emerald into the Eclipse Cannon when I was gullible enough to tell Eggman it wasn't real, and didn't help the Resistance when they really needed it!"

"Tails..."

"Just admit it, Sonic. I'm a useless member of Team Sonic and when I actually try to do something, I just make things more difficult," Tails shouted with fury and a face Sonic has never seen him make before.

Tails ran out of his workshop and flew away. Sonic ran out too and saw that Tails was really high in the air. There was no way he could reach him.

"Tails," he yelled.

The fox didn't respond or even bother turning around. The cobalt hedgehog was about to run after him until Cream landed right in front of him.

"Cream, you shouldn't be out this late," Sonic said while he watched Tails fly further away.

"But Mr. Sonic, Amy is missing," Cream said with urgency.

 **At the Mystic Ruins...**

The fox finally woke up from their nap and changed back into their normal clothes. They continued to hike until they finally found the source of the strange light. It was the yellow Chaos Emerald that was about to fall off of the cliff. The curious fox picked it up and stared at its beautiful glow. Little did they know, the Emerald's light attracted more than just them.

"I see you did the work for me," a familiar voice said with a chuckle.

The fox slowly turned around to see their worst nightmare. Infinite was hovering above the ground with two mechanical sentries awaiting his command. The jackal saw them pulling out a lightning wispon. They were trembling in fear as his icy glare seemed to pierce their very soul.

"What's wrong? Did you think I would just disappear as if I was just a bad dream? Sonic isn't here to protect you now," he said to the fox frozen in fear.

"The weakling is terrified even though I didn't do anything yet. Too bad they're in the way," Infinite thought with a chilling smile hidden behind his mask.

Infinite's target finally built up the courage to pull the trigger on their weapon. The lightning connected but the jackal wasn't fazed at all. Infinite started to get bored with his fear-ridden toy.

"Last time we were in this position was when I killed your fellow squad members. After I did that, I offered you a deal. I let you run away and then you teamed up with the blue rat to defeat me," Infinite said while he clenched his fists, "But this time, I'm not going to make the same mistake."

He gave the sentries a cue to shoot to kill. The one on the left shot the wispon in their target's hands, immediately destroying it and freeing the electricity that was condensed inside of it. An electric charge traveled up the fox's arm and then to their entire body. Infinite wanted to hear their scream but was disappointed when he remembered the fox being mute from last time. This upset him a little but seeing the pain shown by their facial expressions and odd body movements was enough to please him. The pain the fox was feeling was indescribable. Their eyes were open wide and they would have been screaming in pain if their vocal cords actually worked properly.

Infinite commanded the sentry on the right to end his enemy. The mechanical soldier fired a very lethal beam of light made out of pure Chaos energy. The blast pierced the fox's chest. Their body, now on the verge of shutting down, staggered backwards off of the cliff. On the brink of death, they held onto the Emerald with what was left of their strength. The brilliant glow of the yellow Chaos Emerald illuminated all of the blood droplets and burnt fur. As the world started to fade to black, the Emerald's current owner made their death wish through their final thought. Their body hit the ground a second after they were no longer conscious.

The mercenary jumped off the cliff and gently descended thanks to his hover ability along with his sentries. Infinite looked at the corpse with a feeling of accomplishment. He grabbed the glowing gem and wiped the blood off with his glove. His communicator sounded off. He pressed the "Accept Call" button while looking at his old adversary.

"Hello, doctor," Infinite said while he was still paying attention to the body.

"How is your search for the fourth Chaos Emerald going," Eggman asked, hoping it went well since his plans usually blow up in his face.

"It went better than even I expected," Infinite replied before showing Eggman the Emerald and the corpse.

The sight of the lifeless body caused Eggman to almost fall out of his chair.

"I see you are actually worth the money I'm paying you. Now, you need to come back to the Metropolis base with the Chaos Emerald...and the body," Eggman said with a sinister smile, "I have big plans for both of them."

* * *

 **In the future...**

(Dreams of an Absolution/Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)

Silver finally collected the last Emerald. While he thinks it is bothersome to collect them everytime he visits or helps his friends in the past, he was happy to aid the Resistance. The sun shined and everyone seemed happy. Children were playing while the adults talked about various topics, most of them light.

"This is why I help Sonic with the fight against Eggman. Everyone is way more optimistic in this future," Silver thought with pride.

Then he thought about his best friend, Blaze.

"I wonder if she is okay. I haven't heard from her in a while. I tried to contact her when the Resistance started enlisting but she said that she was battling Eggman Nega with Marine. I know she said she could handle herself but I'm a little worried," the silver hedgehog thought as he looked at his reflection in one of the Emeralds' facets.

Silver decided to travel to the Sol Dimension. It would be easy since he has all seven Emeralds but he remembered to be careful since Sol and Chaos are unstable when they are in the same dimension.

He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. The seven Chaos swiftly responded to Silver and started to whirl around him. The hedgehog was eventually engulfed in a really bright light.

* * *

When the light disappeared, he was in the Sol Dimension. Silver slowly opened his eyes and saw Blaze smiling as she bought food from a nearby vendor.

(Blaze's Event/Sonic Rush)

The cat thanked the merchant and continued her stroll with an apple and a small bag of snacks tied around her wrist until she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Blaze. Did you defeat Eggman Nega," Silver asked as he waved with a smile.

"Of course I did. It was easy as usual," Blaze said before taking a bite out of her apple.

"I wish I was there to see it. I haven't seen you in action for a while."

"You should have seen Marine. She has really stepped up her game lately."

"That sounds awesome! Where is she anyway?"

"I'm not sure. She said something about exploring and searching for pirate treasure."

After a few minutes of talking about random topics, Blaze asked about what happened in the past in the Chaos Dimension.

"So there was this guy named Infinite. He had something called the Phantom Ruby and used it to alter people's reality."

"Could you describe how he looked?"

"He had black and white fur. His face was covered by a weird looking mask. But the first thing you would notice about him is the Phantom Ruby prototype in his chest," Silver said while doing his best to inform Blaze on the new villain they may have to face again someday.

"That is really interesting. What about Sonic? Didn't Eggman capture him?"

"He was but a rookie managed to escort him out of the prison hall near the Death Egg."

"Hold on, you guys let a rookie rescue Sonic? That's really hard to believe."

"It was Knuckles' idea since everyone was busy trying to retake the ninety-nine percent of the world that Eggman conquered."

"Knuckles led the charge. KNUCKLES! He's the type of guy who would fall for anything. Who would let him lead," Blaze asked while thinking about Knuckles leading an entire army.

"No one was really against it since he was the last one anybody could count on from Team Sonic. Everyone wanted it to be Tails but he lost it after we all thought that Sonic died," Silver explained.

"Wow. So many things happened while I was fighting Nega."

"It's okay, Blaze. Everyone understood. You have an entire kingdom to take care of on your own. It must be hard."

"It was a bigger hassle before I met Sonic. He told me to believe in myself and my friends as well. If Eggman executed him, he would have me to deal with," Blaze said as her body started to emmit flames.

Silver wanted to say something uplifting so Blaze didn't burn down her own kingdom before his stomach growled. Blaze slowly calmed down and started worrying about her friend.

"Did you eat anything, Silver?"

"I stopped eating when I started hunting for all of the Emeralds...again."

"I told you about doing that to yourself. I know you want to keep everyone safe but you have to care about your needs too. Now, c'mon. I know a really good restaurant in the area," Blaze said as she held Silver's hand and ran with him.

While Silver and Blaze ran through the town, the hedgehog felt something off. He knew his body was used to feeling distortions but most of them felt small and relatively harmless. This one wasn't very big either but it still gave off warning signs. Since the distortion was tiny, he decided to tell Blaze after both of them had a decent meal. His stomach growled again as he thought of all the tasty food that awaited him.

* * *

 **Present Night on Angel Island...**

Knuckles returned with a crate full of punching bags and groceries.

"That was the weirdest trip to the store I ever had. The manager saw me and was really scared for some reason. He was mumbling something that sounded like big fists over and over. Long story short, he gave me everything I wanted to buy at half-price. Moral of the story: big fists give you huge discounts...for some reason," Knuckles thought as he headed closer to the Master Emerald.

He dropped the crate when he heard sobbing. Knuckles also noticed the robot Tails gave him was disarmed.

"Alright, I know you're here," Knuckles said as he prepared his fists, "Come out and fight me, Rouge."

Instead of a bat, he saw a two-tailed fox come out from behind the huge jewel. Tails was sniffing as tears were all over his face.

"What are you doing here, Tails? And why are you crying," Knuckles asked as Tails tried to wipe his tears with his arms.

"I-I realized that I was just a nuisance to you guys so I...flew away from Central City and came here to be alone."

"Okay, I understand why but how did you get up here? It seems like you would get tired before you could manage to see the top of the island."

"I came across that problem years ago so I made a portable teleporter and designed it to warp to Chaos Emerald and Master Emerald locations. It has a few kinks so we still have to hunt for Emeralds the old fashioned way," Tails explained as he pulled out something that looked like the fake emerald Sonic used to sabotage the Eclipse Cannon with a hidden interface that only Tails and Eggman could figure out how to use.

Knuckles was glad that Tails stopped crying while he was explaining how he managed to get here. Then Tails started to cry again. Knuckles sighed. After thinking his situation over for a few minutes, he had an idea.

"So you feel useless too. I'll train you if you think you can handle it," Knuckles said, hoping it would work.

"Do you think I'll be useful if I learned how to fight properly," the fox asked while wiping away his tears again.

"Yeah. Just please stop crying," Knuckles said with a smile.

"Okay but how do we start?"

"Maybe we should focus on that tomorrow," the red echidna said with a yawn.

Knuckles quickly fell asleep while Tails was still thinking about all of the mistakes he made throughout the years.

"I promise to be better...even if I have to get hurt in the process...I will do this for the sake of the world...and you, Sonic," Tails quietly said with a tear rolling down his cheek.


	3. Chapter 3: Answer Me

Disclaimer: I still do not own Sonic or the awesome music.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** This would have been finished a lot faster but my stupid laptop was crashing a lot. I'm just glad I finished it. Also to anyone who cares, each of these chapters have a length of 3,000+ words because of the new format I made up so this story may be longer than the ones from 2014. Again to everyone who favored, followed, left a review, or read this to test the waters, thank you so much! Anyway, enjoy. :D

* * *

Chapter 3: Answer Me

 **The Next Day...**

Sonic awoke and gave out a yawn while stretching his arms. He got out of bed and put his red and white shoes on. While getting ready for a new day, Sonic had some upsetting thoughts on his mind.

"I can't believe Tails flew away. I was about to run after him but Cream told me about Amy's disappearance. She said she looked everywhere but couldn't find her. I told her to go home and that I will deal with it in the morning. I think Egghead kidnapped her again but he never really does anything bad to her so I decided to sleep since I was tired from running to clear my head."

After the cobalt hedgehog finished his morning routine, he thought about the choice he had to make: look for Tails or locate Amy so he could rescue her.

"I need to save Amy but I don't know where Eggman's base is or atleast the one where he's keeping her. Tails is usually the one to actually figure it out or Eggman would show up and tell me. *sigh* I can't wait for Eggman so Tails is my best bet," he thought with a determined look on his face.

* * *

 **In the Sol Dimension (Yesterday)...**

Blaze and Silver were enjoying a variety of dishes. After eating to the point where their stomachs would burst, Blaze asked for the check. While waiting, she noticed her silver friend acting a bit antsy.

"Silver, is there something wrong," she asked.

"Yes, I felt a distortion earlier. It was small but I was still worried. My first guess was that the phenomenon was triggered by the Chaos and Sol Emeralds being together but then the feeling was back again. If it was caused by the Emeralds, it would have felt like a pressure that gradually built up. This however was a feeling that resembled a light pressure staying constant."

"What does that mean," Blaze asked, enticed by this distortion.

"Since it was light, it must have been temporal. When time shifts in the Chaos Dimension's future, it's so light that only a few people could feel it. If it was the Emeralds, then everyone could feel it and see the dimensions slowly merge," Silver explained to the best of his ability.

"If that is the case, then something must have happened in the Chaos Dimension's past," Blaze said while being slightly amazed at Silver's ability to deduce certain types of instabilities.

"Here's your check," the waiter said before putting the receipt on the table.

Blaze paid the bill and was ready to leave with Silver to figure out the source of the time shifts.

* * *

 **In the Chaos Dimension/ Angel Island (Present Day)...**

Tails and Knuckles were awake and getting ready to cook breakfast. The echidna lit up the fire wood and put a metal stand above the flame. After doing so, he placed the pot.

"Tails, help me cut the vegetables," Knuckles said as he took the ingredients out of the crate.

"Okay," the fox replied as he grabbed a few carrots.

Tails worked on the preparing the assortment of greens while Knuckles was busy with the roux. After they finished the prep, the two waited for the stew to be cooked.

"Wow, that smells really good," Tails said while being entraced by the intoxicating aroma.

"Yep. I took up cooking since no one can really come up here and bring me food. It also helps to clear my mind," Knuckles said as he lifted the lid to check, "It's going to be a while before we can eat."

"Can we train while we wait," Tails asked before his stomach growled.

"I don't usually like to train with an empty stomach but this might be a good test," Knuckles said to the hungry fox.

(Believe in Myself/Sonic Adventure 2)

Knuckles and Tails moved to a space where they can train without damaging the Master Emerald or knocking over the pot of stew.

"Are you ready, Tails," Knuckles said as he was positioning himself into an appropriate battle stance, "This is gonna hurt so there is no going back if you say 'yes'."

Tails nodded before raising his fists. Knuckles charged at him at full speed but the fox managed to dodge the attack in time. Then Knuckles burrowed underground. Tails flew up to avoid the echidna's uppercut. Knuckles was a little impressed with his speed.

"I see you're good at dodging but sometimes you have to do more than just run away from danger. Let's see how strong your attacks are. Just hit me with everything you got," Knuckles shouted as he spread his arms, making himself vulnerable.

The blue-eyed fox charged at him and punched his chest. Knuckles didn't even wince. He tried a flurry of punches but the echidna still didn't budge. There were no bruises on his body. Tails was disappointed in himself.

"Your attacks are really weak. Were you using all of your strength," Knuckles asked him after putting his arms down.

"I put everything I had into them. I really did," he said as he put his head down in shame.

"No way. I remember a time when you were actually able to hold your own. You had an energy gun and everything. What happened to those things?"

"All of them malfunctioned and I didn't bother to fix them," he confessed.

"Why?"

"I saw Sonic was able to do all of the fighting on his own so I just stopped fighting and started working on upgrades to the Tornado. It seemed that the only thing he needed me for was getting to places that required going past huge bodies of water. Besides that, there was no real use for me being there," Tails said with a bit of anger.

"You didn't even try to show him how capable you were," Knuckles said, "You stopped fighting because you thought Sonic was more qualified to protect you rather than yourself."

Tails raised his head up and thought about Knuckles' words.

"Tails, you were lying. You didn't put all you had into those attacks. You were too afraid. I can't continue training you if you don't take this seriously. When Sonic fights Eggman, he gives it his all even if he is a little afraid because he knows it will save the world and himself," Knuckles stated.

The fox was at a loss for words. He knew that Knuckles had a valid point.

"I was useless because I acted like a burden. No wonder Sonic doesn't think I could handle myself. I never gave him a reason to believe in me," Tails thought with a feeling of regret.

"Tails, I'm going to ask you one more time. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Y-yes."

"I need an answer with more enthusiasm than that!"

"Yes, I want to get stronger! No matter what happens, I won't concede," Tails shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Alright, I will continue to train you. But first, you need to get your equipment. You were in great form when using those."

"I would but they're at my workshop and Sonic is probably there."

"Hmm. Maybe you could use the broken badniks on the island to make new ones."

"That is actually a great idea, Knuckles," Tails said with a smile.

"Hey, my ideas are always great. Why do you think people chose me to lead the Resistance?"

"They were out of options," Tails said without hesitation.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," the fox said while rubbing the back of his head with an innocent smile.

"Knuckles might actually be smarter than we thought. He is right. If I don't want to be treated as a burden, I have to stop acting like one," Tails thought, now more determined than ever to prove that he can fight too.

Knuckles smiled and thought, "He's a handful but this might actually be fun."

 **At Eggman's base...**

Amy was exhausted. She stayed up all night, wondering when Eggman would finally make his move. Her eyes were red and she could barely keep them open.

"Maybe I could close my eyes for a minute," she thought before she fell to the floor, sleeping deeply.

Eggman saw his test subject fall into a deep slumber while he was putting the bloody yellow Chaos Emerald in a small glass case.

"That's right. Make sure you get a good rest because you might not be able to when you see what I have planned for you," he said before doing his evil laugh, once again ending with coughing uncontrollably.

Infinite was bored. He thought Eggman would have done something to her by now but he just sat there, watching and waiting for the perfect moment.

"Doctor, aren't you going to do something yet? So far, you just kidnapped her and made her a bit paranoid," Infinite said, expecting to put more of his plan in action instead of just patiently waiting.

"It's actually a good thing you said that because I need you to do two things for me. First, I need you to take care of those pesky G.U.N. agents that keep trying to stick their noses in my business."

Infinite's interest peaked.

"What do I do to the G.U.N. agents? Do I get to kill or capture them," Infinite asked excitedly.

"No, if you kill those two, the government will definitely be after me (more than they already are). I just want you to make some illusions to throw them off. Fortunately, they haven't found out about Amy but I still need to make sure those two won't be back for a while. Speaking of which, after you're done with that, I need you to make a couple of illusions to keep her...entertained," he said with a chilling smile.

 **Meanwhile...**

Sonic started to feel frustrated and worried.

"Where could he be? I can't find him anywhere. Okay, I gotta think like Tails. If I wanted to be alone, where would I go? Maybe a place where not many people can access. That would only leave Angel Island but Tails couldn't have possibly been able to fly there without the Tornado. And if he somehow managed to get up there, how would I be able to get to it? The Tornado could do the job but it's been a while since I actually tried to pilot it. Even if I knew how to fly it, the wing is broken. *sigh* Oh, Tails," the hedgehog said to himself.

 **At Spagonia...**

(Rooftop Run Day/ Sonic Unleashed)

Silver and Blaze appeared in a blinding flash of light to the outskirts of the city. Both of them were holding suitcases. Silver noticed the Emeralds from the future disappeared but he wasn't very surprised.

"Looks like we made it, Silver," Blaze said as she looked at the big city to confirm where they were.

Some parts of Spagonia were still being repaired. A few workers were breaking flickies out of some of the inactive badniks.

"What happened to this place," Blaze asked while she looked around and saw a lot of damaged skyscrapers.

"Eggman happened," Silver said as he remembered the injured innocents trying to escape from the city.

Blaze and Silver started to walk into the partially damaged city. They continued to walk until Blaze stopped in her steps.

"What's the matter, Blaze," Silver asked.

The cat stared at a memorial. It listed all of the people who risked their lives protecting the defenseless from Eggman's army.

"All of those people...died," she said with her eyes closed.

"Yes, our agents managed to protect most of the civilians but a lot of them were killed by Infinite," Silver said as he read the names, "Most of the names here were new recruits."

"Why are you not fazed by this?"

"I already did my mourning, Blaze."

Blaze and Silver silently walked away but Blaze looked back a few times.

"So Blaze, we need to find somewhere to stay since we are a long way from Tails' workshop," Silver said while checking the time on his watch.

 **Outside Eggman's Metropolis base...**

Shadow and Rouge appeared outside of the building with the help of the green Chaos Emerald. Shadow let go of Rouge and put the gem away.

"Finally, we made it," Rouge said as she looked at the tall structure.

"We would have made it here a lot sooner if we didn't get that hacker mission," Shadow said.

"They were just a bunch of pushovers anyway. All of that fuss over an organization that was really easy to take down," Rouge said, complaining about their low paying mission.

"None of that matters now. We have to find out what Eggman's up to," Shadow replied before walking to the entrance.

Rouge flew up to a window. She hid when a robot faced that direction.

"Now to find a way to distract them while I break in here," she thought while pulling out a small bomb.

Shadow skated in, going so fast that the robots' cameras could only pick up a black blur. After a few minutes, he ran into a room that was completely dark.

"What's this? I can't see anything," Shadow thought before a light on the ceiling turned itself on.

Under the light was a familiar face. It was Maria Robotnik.

"Hello, Shadow," she said with a smile.

"Maria! Is that you," he asked while being dubious about this girl being Maria.

"I thought I never would have seen you again," 'Maria' said.

"It can't be. The real Maria died on the ARK over 50 years ago!"

"Shadow, it was all a bad dream," she said as she started to walk towards him.

Then Shadow heard Rouge's bomb explode and he snapped out of it. The figure that claimed to be his childhood friend's true form was one of Eggman's sentries.

(Big Swell/Sonic Rush Adventure)

The robot fired a beam at him but only missed by an inch. Shadow quickly took out the Emerald and used Chaos Control to get behind it. He rolled into a ball, went into the air, and pushed himself with enough force to go through its exoskeleton. Shadow's body ricocheted off of the inner walls of the machine, cutting through its main circuits. The robot began to shake as Shadow exited it. It exploded; the noise alerted the robots that did not get distracted by Rouge's bomb going off.

"Damn it," Shadow said as he saw all of the robots pointing their guns at him.

 **Meanwhile...**

Rouge watched as the robots all ran to the direction of the explosion. The bat kicked open the window. She flew in and landed in a dark room.

"Where am I," she asked with only silence as a response.

After walking around for a bit, she sees six small objects glowing in front of her. Rouge's eyes sparkled as she saw all of the Chaos Emeralds except the green one. While someone else in her position would have been suspicious of six or seven of the Emeralds being together, she was blinded by greed and tried to pick one up. Before she could get the chance to grab the yellow one, she heard a series of explosions.

"What's going on," she said while trying to find the source of the blast.

Shadow emerged from the fire and dived on to Rouge.

"What the he-"

"Chaos Control!"

The two disappeared in an instant. With them gone, Infinite came out of the darkness and looked at the 'Chaos Emeralds' on the floor. Their true form was a pile of land mines.

"It seems my illusions were too much for them," the jackal said as the ruby implanted in his chest started to glow an ominous shade of red.

Infinite contacted Eggman on his communicater.

"I've taken care of the pests."

"Excellent. Now that they're gone, it's time for you to use your abilities for that other thing I told you to do," Eggman commanded.

"It would be my pleasure to, doctor," Infinite said before he turned off the comm.

 **At Tails' Workshop...**

Sonic saw the sunrise as he stood on the roof.

"I tried to find an Emerald today but I seem to be out of luck with a lot of things lately. Shadow usually looks for the green Emerald and Eggman must have a bunch of them. There must be another one out there. Without Tails, it's really hard to determine where they are. Why did you have to leave? I need you right now," Sonic said, "You weren't useless, Tails..."

 _If you truly believed that then why do you fight alone?_

"Who said that," he nervously asked, "Show yourself."

 _I'm not hiding, Sonic._

"What do you want?"

 _Close your eyes, hedgehog._

Sonic closed them and saw nothing but fire.

(Boss/ Sonic Rush Adventure)

 _I have a few questions for you, Sonic the Hedgehog._

Dark silhouettes appeared, standing on black towers.

 _The tower's length symbolizes a hierarchy. Right now, you're at the bottom of it._

"So who is at the top then," he asked before Eggman appeared along with Eggman Nega.

 _The first tower, the shortest one, is owned by a person with the ability to harness lightning._

The shadow opened their eyes. Its irises were red. The creature also had a damaged tail and strange armor covering most of their body.

 _The second tower is owned by the master of illusions, Infinite._

Infinite's face was covered by his hand instead of his mask.

 _The third tower is owned by a cold and emotionless beast that can control fire._

The third tower's owner opened their eyes to reveal gray, dull, irises. They were short but wore ragged clothes with hair that went in many directions.

 _I'm going to skip explaining the owners of the fourth tower since you are well acquainted with them. And then there's the last tower._

"What do you mean? There are only fo-"

The peculiar room started to shake as a fifth tower started to rise out of the ground. Sonic was really surprised when he saw the last shadow.

 _It seems you know who is the owner of the final tower._

The owner of the highest tower was a dark version of Sonic.

 _Ah yes. The owner of the final tower is me. Now, Sonic, I told you earlier about a series of questions I wanted to ask you._

"Fine. Ask away but know that I have some questions to ask you," he said as he stared at the owners of the third and final towers.

 _If you had to fight Eggman right now, would you do it by yourself or with your friends?_

"I would fight him with my friends," Sonic said half-heartedly.

The flames started to rise, causing the blue hedgehog to sweat a little.

 _Next question, do you believe in your abilities more or your friends'?_

 _"_ My...friends' abilities..."

The flames started to get hotter.

 _Next question, if the owners of a few of these towers were friends, would you fight and even kill them if you had to?_

"Wait! What? Does that mean some of these guys are people I know besides you, Infinite, and the Eggheads?"

 _Answering an inquery with another...You can't probe my brain on the matter. You will find out in due time. Now since you couldn't answer my third question, I'll just ask you a different one._

"But-"

 _Last question, if Eggman did anything irreversible like killing your friends, what would you do to him?_

"Tails asked this question before," he said to himself.

 _Do you have an answer? Darn that was another question. Just answer me already._

"I...I...don't know," he reluctantly said.


	4. Chapter 4: Fall From Grace

Author's Notes: I managed to defeat writer's block with my sword and shield. Sorry Chapter 4 took a while. I had to think about birthdays and a few doctor appointments. Also the mapping for this chapter was very difficult since the world's layout seems to change in the video games. Thank you for being patient with me. Enjoy. :D

* * *

Chapter 4: Fall from Grace

 **At Eggman's base/Death Lab (Next Day)...**

Amy wiped her eyes and yawned. She stood up and looked around. Unfortunately, the pink hedgehog was still in Eggman's lab.

"Maybe I have nothing to worry about. He hasn't done anything to me. But he didn't even bother to feed me anything which is unusual. Eggman would give me a few small sandwiches and some water to drink at the very least," Amy said as her stomach growled in agreement.

 _Whining about it isn't going to make your situation any better._

"Who said that and why do you sound like me," the startled girl asked as she prepared her hammer.

 _Oh. It seems you forgot about me. I would be hurt if I actually gave a damn._

"You didn't answer my question. Who are you," she asked the voice again while her tone made her seem more aggressive.

 _Someone's getting angry. Are you going to hit me with that oversized toy if you find out who I am? If you're planning to, then that makes things a little awkward for both of us._

A figure started to materialize right in front of her. Amy gasped as she saw the owner of the voice. She dropped her weapon and only stared.

 _Amy, you naive little girl, I can't believe you. I could kill you for forgetting my beautiful form. Just this once, I will forgive you._

The entity looked almost like Amy with a few exceptions. Her quills were pointing in many different directions, claws were coming out of her gloves, and she had very sharp teeth. The beast's fur was a darker shade of pink and it was dull instead of the vibrant shine Amy's coat usually has. In short, this person or thing appeared to be feral.

The hedgehog took a step back before thinking about how this is even possible. This being's face warped into the physiognomies of other creatures she saw in her nightmares like twisted versions of her friends.

"I d-don't k-know who or what you are but you better not get near me or-"

The creature vanished and then appeared next to the hammer Amy dropped. She picked it up and started to swing at the air, hoping to get a reaction from the confused hedgehog.

 _You're going to try to hit me with one of your hammers you stored in hammerspace. If that is what you want to do, just know I can do everything you can do._

"Stay away from me," she said with fear in her emerald green eyes.

 _Relax, I'm not your enemy. They are._

The shadow pointed to the one of the white walls rising up and revealing an army of robots.

* * *

 **Eggman's base/ Revival Lab (Earlier)...**

The egg-shaped scientist watched as metallic parts start to replace the 'patient's' organic limbs, torso, etc. A fox wearing a black body suit under all of the metal was strapped to a stretcher. Robots made sure everything was placed correctly according to the doctor's orders. Orbot and Cubot held small plastic containers with two hedgehogs each in them.

"Yes, I managed to conquer death itself," he said excitedly as his creation opened their red eyes when a robot used a device that appeared to be an advanced version of a taser to give them a little Chaos energy, "Now for the finishing touches."

Eggman walked over to the fox struggling to get out of the bindings. He pulled a yellow gem out of his pocket. It looked like a smaller version of the yellow Emerald. The man commanded two bots to hold the animal's head in place so he could put the object into the socket dug into a very durable helmet. When the jewel was in place, certain parts of the armor lit up with a yellow light. A huge shock went into their system as more Chaos energy traveled through their body. The jolt caused them to drift in and out of consciousness. Then, emotions like anger and sadness started to effect their returning memories.

The portly doctor watched as one part of his plan started to take shape. He called Infinite and told him to come to the Revival Lab.

"Do you need something, doctor," Infinite asked as he arrived.

"Yes, I need you to make a very potent illusion. I need one that warps Amy's perception of time. Whatever illusion you did before, cancel it," he said as he pointed to her wristwatch on a portable monitor a robot with wheels was carrying.

"I could do that but it will make her body and mind unstable. Also, the illusion I did beforehand only affected her dreams so I can easily get rid of it so her mind won't be too confused by that anyway."

"On second thought, keep the previous illusion and add this one. It would take a long time to study her mental changes otherwise."

"Are you sure? It could kill her."

"Relax, if her mental state starts to negatively affect her significantly, I'll let you end that part of the illusion."

"Okay. I don't want this plan to go pear-shaped just because we killed the wrong pawn," Infinite said as he started to activate his Ruby.

The jackal was dismissed by the mad doctor. Orbot and Cubot hovered towards Eggman.

"Boss, we still don't know what you want us to do with these hedgehogs. They weren't on the sheets you showed us," Orbot said while looking at the furry little animals.

"They were. Now that I've finished studying and feeding them, I can show you their part in the plan. I left no stone unturned after all," the doctor said as he groomed his 'stache.

* * *

 **Spagonia (Present Day)...**

Blaze ran through the city while Silver hovered behind her. The cat glanced at her friend flying through the air.

"Wow. He seems to travel in the air a lot faster than he runs," Blaze thought as the hedgehog was actually catching up to her.

Silver saw the ocean ahead of them. He told Blaze to stop so she didn't end up running into the huge body of water. The cat managed to stop before she reached the shallow part of the water. Silver landed onto the sand gently. The pair looked at the expanse with worried expressions.

"Silver, are you sure you can get us there," she asked while looking a little beyond the shallows.

"I've been practicing going through obstacles like this. I wouldn't have been able to gather all of the Emeralds if I wasn't able to go over oceans," Silver said while looking at his friend who was very nervous.

"Okay, I trust you, Silver. I do have a question."

"What is it, Blaze?"

"Why didn't we warp directly to Central City? That's what usually happens when we come to the Chaos Dimension's past," she said to Silver who was also confused.

"I was wondering the same thing. Someone once told me that the seven Chaos Emeralds usually give thoughts power if you gather them. I thought of Sonic but it seems we were warped a continent away from his home," Silver said while thinking back to when he made his wish to come to the past.

"The Emeralds could have been acting on their own. Sonic and Tails came to my world involuntarily through the Emeralds' influence (reference: Sonic Rush Adventure). It was like Sol was sending a distress signal to Chaos," Blaze explained, trying to make sense of her current situation.

"So Chaos acted on its own accord. There was a reason it warped us to Spagonia instead of Central City but what could that be?"

They thought of anything that was out of the ordinary in the partially ruined city but to no avail. Then the golden-eyed hedgehog thought of something or someone.

"What about Knuckles," Silver asked as he thought about the short-tempered echidna guarding the massive Master Emerald.

"Does it have to be Knuckles," Blaze asked in a huff.

"Yes, he is the Master Emerald guardian so I thought he would be able to tell us about what we need to know. I mean, you were taught everything about the Sol Emeralds because the people decided that you should be their guardian."

"You're right, Silver. My kingdom's greatest historians spent years teaching me the history and the powers of the Sol Emeralds. Of course I had a little help from Sonic when it came to actually knowing how to use those powers."

"So, do you agree that we should go to Angel Island or the Mystic Ruins to visit Knuckles," Silver asked, waiting for her answer.

"Alright. Let's go see Knuckles. If he doesn't have anything useful to tell us, we go ask Sonic or Tails about the distortions you've been feeling with little to no detours."

"Agreed."

 **In Green Hill Zone...**

Cream and Cheese were about to have a picnic in the grassy landscape. The weather was perfect. She wanted to have a relaxing day with her chao friend but Amy's disappearance was still bothering her.

"Okay, Cheese. We need a good spot to set everything up," Cream said with a smile.

"Chao chao chao," Cheese sang with glee.

"You think we should set up there," she asked as she tightened her grip on the picnic basket.

The chao nodded. They went to the area Cheese suggested and saw the blue Chaos Emerald lying in the grass. The rabbit picked it up and thought about what Sonic told her.

"Mr. Sonic said he would take care of it but this Emerald might help," she thought as she stared at it.

 **On Angel Island...**

The golden fox drew up a few blueprints with new weapon designs. Knuckles carried a pile of inactive badniks to the Master Emerald Shrine so Tails could start rebuilding his weapons and/or modify them.

Knuckles dropped the last pile on the ground. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

"Tails, I'm going to the store since I didn't buy enough food for two people," he said while pulling out the rings he found while locating the broken down robots.

"Okay. If you see Sonic, please don't mention me," Tails said while looking at the blueprints for the mini energy cannon, "I forgot my tools in my workshop so could you get those too?"

"Alright, Tails. It might take a while so watch the Master Emerald," Knuckles said as he thought of Rouge or Eggman getting their hands on it.

Tails nodded as he took out the robot he disarmed earlier. Knuckles was about to jump off of the floating island until he saw a plane circling the it.

"It must be Eggman. His emblem is on it," Tails said as he took out a remote and pressed a button to activate his robot.

The automaton readied its guns. Knuckles ran towards the Master Emerald. Tails commanded his creation to shoot the plane but the pilot was able to dodge most of the bullets with some clever maneuvers. The red echidna made it to the Emerald and started to concentrate so he could shrink it and put it away (reference: Sonic Adventure 2) but it was hard to concentrate when danger was near. Neither of them expected the plane to head straight for the Emerald itself.

"Knuckles, look out," Tails shouted as the craft was about to hit the mystical gem.

"Come on! Hurry up and shrink already! I'm not letting the Master Emerald get into the wrong hands! I don't care if I die protecting this thing," Knuckles shouted when the Emerald's size wasn't decreasing.

The pilot hopped out of the plane and Chaos Controlled to a safe distance before it collided with its target. There was a gigantic explosion that engulfed Knuckles and Tails. The two were blown off of the island and landed into the ocean below. A plethora of Emerald shards flew in many directions. When the smoke cleared, the assassin grabbed as many shards as they could see as the island was descending. Before the island hit the water, they locked some of the pieces away in a metal case and used Chaos Control.

 **Meanwhile...**

The fox woke up to find himself in red water with Emerald shards surrounding him. His body was aching but he wanted to live. If he didn't make his move, he would drown or be crushed by the falling island. He used his pain-filled arms and legs to swim to the surface until he saw an unconscious echidna.

Tails used his tails as a propeller to get to Knuckles quickly. The young fox grabbed him and managed to make it to the coast of the Mystic Ruins. Tails took this time to catch his breath. He saw the island falling and knew the Ruins would be flooded. They were still in peril but Tails couldn't move any further. His injuries were really bad and he didn't know if Knuckles would survive for much longer. Tails started to see black and heard his body hit the ground.

He managed to open his eyes a little and saw someone dragging Knuckles' body. Then he turned to see another person trying to pick him up. The two people ran away from the water rushing towards them with the bodies and some of the beached Emerald shards in their possession.

* * *

 **Above the ocean (Earlier)...**

Silver and Blaze were flying to the next continent over using Silver's psychokinetic ability.

"Are we going to be there soon," Blaze asked as she was getting sick from looking at the water at their height.

"We are almost to the Mystic Ruins. When we get there, we have to head northwest or atleast that's what someone said when I asked for directions earlier," Silver said to the frightened cat.

"Okay. How do we know when we reach the Ruins?"

"You will see a floating island with a green light coming from it."

"A...floating...island..."

Blaze remembered Sky Babylon.

"Is there anything wrong, Blaze," Silver asked while trying to continue to focus on keeping them in the air.

"No, it's nothing," she said with a sigh.

Silver was a little worried about her but thought she was only scared from being high up.

"Is that it," Blaze asked as she pointed to the floating land mass.

"Yes, Angel Island. And there's the Mystic Ruins."

They were heading closer to the island, allowing them to see and hear an explosion.

"What is going on," Blaze asked Silver.

"I don't know."

Tails and Knuckles were blown away by the blast. Blaze and Silver saw their friends plummeting.

"Silver, we have to save them," Blaze exclaimed.

Silver was about to help rescue his campanions until he started to fade in and out of consciousness.

 _Silver...Silver the Hedgehog...It's time..._

Blaze noticed her body getting lower and Silver's grip was weakening.

"Silver...Silver, wake up," she shouted as she continued to slowly drop, "Silver!"

"Bla...ze..."

The silver hedgehog wanted to stay up long enough to get Blaze and himself to safety but he was finding it very difficult to stay awake. Instead of seeing black everytime he drifted in and out of reality, he saw a girl with glowing blue eyes sitting atop a giant creature made out of water and Chaos energy.

 _Silver, face your destiny._

"I'm...sorry...Blaze..."

Silver was unable to hold them up any longer. The last thing he heard was Blaze calling his name but as a horrifying shriek.

 **At Tails' Workshop...**

Sonic started to rummage through Tails' belongings until he found a Phantom Ruby prototype that Tails kept in case Infinite attacked again.

"Yes, I knew it would be somewhere in here! Now, how do I use this thing," the blue hedgehog asked himself as he scratched his head.

He tried to use Chaos Control but there was no effect. Sonic put it away and tried to think of something else.

"Darn it. Maybe I could go into all of the rings I saved to buy a plane," he thought as he pulled a ton of rings.

 _Why didn't you think of that before? It would have saved so much time._

"You again? I don't have time for it right now. Besides, I thought Tails would have came back by now. That's what usually happens when he goes on his little tantrums. Plus, it's been a while since I actually flew a plane so this was my last resort."

 _What about Knuckles or Rouge?_

"I haven't seen him lately and...I don't want to ask Rouge to fly me to Angel Island. I really don't need Knuckles to be on my case."

 _How about Cream? She can fly and I don't think she is very interested in the Master Emerald._

"Cream? I know she would be able to pick me up since she was able to hold Amy and Big at the same time. I don't know if she has enough stamina to get me up there though."

 _Once again, your friends are proving to be useless or a hindrance. You need Tails to fly the Tornado to travel from continent to continent and where is he? He's on an island that is very hard for a lot of people to get to. Do you feel trapped, Mr. Knight of the Wind? Let me give you an answer that will put your mind at ease. Drop the fox and the stalker._

Sonic heard a knock on his door. The cobalt hedgehog answered it. A rabbit holding the blue Emerald was there to greet him.

"Hello, Mr. Sonic. Cheese and I found this and thought it would help," she said with an innocent smile.

"Where did you find this," he asked as Cream gave him the Emerald.

"I found it near the coast of Green Hill Zone."

Sonic checked everywhere except the parts near water. His body was filled with fear and a strange sound started to fill his head while he was in or near the water (reference: drowning music). The memories made him shiver.

"Thank you, Cream. Now, I can get to Tails," he said as looked at the shiny Emerald.

"What happened to Tails, Mr. Sonic," Cream asked with concern.

The hedgehog was about to tell her about how Tails ran away until an alert went off on his TV. Sonic ran to the TV to see footage of Angel Island falling from the heavens.

"Tails...I'm coming for you, little buddy," he said before bolting out of the door.

The tailwind almost destroyed the workshop but managed to knock Cream and Cheese over. Cream stood up and helped out her chao.

"There must be something wrong with Tails. Mr. Sonic might be going to Angel Island. Let's go, Cheese," Cream said while flapping her long ears to get her feet off of the ground.


	5. Chapter 5: Preparations

AN: Thank you Amefloza13, Hazel the Rabbit, Lustlets, Lynn, and fusion721 for supporting this story. I didn't think this many people would like it four chapters in. Also, I'm grateful for the people who made over five-hundred views possible. A special thank you goes out to Sigmamaxis450 for their ideas and helping me through back and forth PMs. Anyway, enjoy! :D

* * *

Chapter 5: Preparations

 **At Eggman's base/Surveillance Room (Early Evening)...**

The room was dimly lit. It had two rows of white computers with flat monitors, one row against the left wall and another on the right. Doctor Eggman was sitting in a revolving chair, watching the Death Lab through one of the monitors that was a part of a large collection in the center of the room. His hands rested against a terminal that was connected to the numerous amount of screens.

Eggman chuckled as he watched his captive fighting for her life. He checked a few digital charts on the right of his main surveillance screen. As the robots continued to battle Amy, the ones that weren't in the front lines scanned her move set, reaction time, resilience, strength, speed, and stamina. Near the entrance of the Death Lab, there was a bot holding a peculiar silver container filled with mysterious chemicals; it stood there, awaiting the doctor's orders.

"Thanks to Infinite's illusion, one minute in real time is an hour to Amy. There are one thousand, four hundred and forty minutes in a day so in the span of one day in reality, she would feel as if she spent sixty days in captivity. Hohohoho! This should be interesting," Eggman said before laughing hysterically.

Then he thought about the problem with his plan.

"Wait. How would she be able to tell when a day passes if she can't see the day and night cycles? Well, the solution should not be too difficult for me to come up with. I am the brilliant Doctor Ivo Robotnik and I have found out how to trick her mind even further. But I sent Infinite on a little errand. Hmm," he muttered before a smile from ear to ear was on his face.

"Good thing I didn't destroy all of the prototypes. Although, they are a bit unstable," he said as he jumped out of his revolving chair.

Eggman looked at his two hovering assistants, Orbot and Cubot, through one of the smaller monitors. They were carrying clipboards and doing a headcount to determine how many robots were made that day without defects in a spacious room. He turned on the intercom for the room they were in.

"Listen, you two," Eggman said, alerting them.

"What is it, boss," Orbot asked while watching Cubot sorting computer chips that were previously pulled out of a nearby metal crate.

"I want you to go into the room where I keep all of the incomplete rubies."

"But boss, you said they were not rea-"

"I know what I said. Don't worry, I will have that problem taken care of," Eggman said before sitting in front a computer.

He started to type in a series of codes that can only be understood by his robots' A.I.

"Boss," Orbot said when Eggman stopped speaking.

Cubot stuck his hand into the crate to pull out another chip but the remaining chips were piled up at the bottom. He reached in further and ended up falling into the box. Orbot facepalmed and sighed at his partner's usual shenanigans.

"Alright, I finished the list of commands," Eggman said, surprising his two mechanical helpers since they thought the comm was off, "Now all you need to do is go in and get the rubies and I will take care of the rest."

 **In the Death Lab...**

As the pink hedgehog continued to fight the horde, she didn't notice some of the robots hammering Phantom Ruby prototypes into the walls. Once the rubies were successfully embedded into the room's walls, all of the bots stopped.

Amy was very perplexed by this sudden change. Her heartbeats started to return to normality along with her adrenaline levels. She fell on her hands and knees and started to pant. Beads of sweat and blood droplets started to drip from her pink fur from the scratches received from badniks with sharper weapons or appendages. Her stomach started to growl again. Amy was dehydrated, exhausted, bleeding, and hungry. She hasn't taken a bath or showered in days so her body started to have this lingering odor. Despite all of this, she still believed her blue hero would come to save her from this hell.

"I see you managed to survive and with all of your limbs intact as well. Maybe I should give you a better challenge. But before that, I think you deserve a reward," Eggman said as he pressed another button on the console.

Through her emerald green eyes, she saw a robot donning a chef hat arrive through the entrance Eggman's other mechanical minions came through.

"That's the exit. I need to get there but I could barely move. If I could just..."

Amy tried to get back on her feet but her body wouldn't move. One of the robots put a plate next to her with a glass of purified water. The 'waiter' removed the cloche to reveal freshly cooked meat. The starving girl was so excited to dig in. She didn't even give a second thought before devouring the dish.

While Amy was ripping the meat apart with her teeth, Eggman pressed the button that allowed the immobilized robots to move again so they could leave the room along with the 'waiter'. After confirming that the hedgehog was the only one in the room and too preoccupied with her food to notice anything around her, Eggman closed the entrance by dropping the wall by simply pressing a button after he commanded one of his robots to throw in a gas canister.

When Amy finished appeasing her appetite and drinking the water, she looked up to see if her ticket out of the Death Lab was still open but she was disheartened as she looked at the sealed off entrance.

What? Did you think it would be that easy? Even if you were able to go through that exit, did you think there would be no traps or guards waiting for you?

The voice of the figure she saw earlier started to annoy her but that was Amy's only company. At this point, the young hedgehog thought any type of social interaction was better than the silence. Suddenly, the hedgie's eyelids started to feel heavy.

"What is this? I felt wide awake a moment ago," she thought while looking around.

Her vision was obscured by a dense, white, fog. Amy tried to fight it but her body surrendered before her mind.

* * *

 **Location: Unknown/ Time: Nonexistent**

Silver was coaxed into consciousness by an unfamiliar voice. His eyes slowly opened to reveal a blue-eyed echidna. He recognized her as the girl he saw in his visions. The confused hedgehog started to feel an odd, but familiar sensation. Thinking he fell into the ocean around Angel Island, he started to panic.

"Calm down. You can't drown here. This water is very special," she said with a smile.

He was able to relax after her statement and tried breathing normally.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't summon you to a place that would threaten your life. Maybe I should introduce myself first. I am Tikal, daughter of Chief Pachacamac, of the lost Knuckles Clan," the echidna said.

"The lost Knuckles Clan...So does that mean you're related to my friend, Knuckles," he asked, intrigued.

"Yes, I am one of his ancient ancestors."

"That's amazing...So, where am I and where is that giant beast from before?"

"Oh, you mean Chaos?"

"Chaos...Emeralds?"

"No, just Chaos. He is the god of destruction or was until Sonic and his friends saved him. Now, he is the god of creation again," Tikal said as she reminisced, "But I fear that my friend will become that destructive being once again."

She stared at Silver with a hopeful look in her blue eyes.

"We should get out of the water. I want you to be comfortable in this place before we discuss why you're here," Tikal grabbed Silver's hand and swam towards the surface of the water.

The pair made their way to dry land soon after.

The echidna let go of his hand and looked over to a few interesting characters playing chess. Silver didn't recognize either of them. One of them had an almost uncanny resemblance to Shadow. The other appeared to be a small, red, imp with little fairy-like wings flapping rapidly.

Tikal walked over to them while they were concentrating on their match.

"Silver, I would like you to meet Light Gaia and Mephiles," she said happily with a loud clap so they could stop focusing on the game.

They were upset about the interruption but Mephiles used this as an opportunity to switch the pieces around while his opponent wasn't looking at the board on the wooden table.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you, Light Gaia," he said with a smile.

"You don't have to be so formal. Since I consider you my friend, just call me Chip."

"Okay...Chip."

Chip flew over to Silver and had his tiny hand up, waiting for a high-five from his new companion. The hedgehog politely responded to his gesture and their budding friendship was born.

"Want some chocolate," he asked while carrying a wrapped chocolate bar.

"Sure," Silver replied.

Chip handed it over to him with an innocent smile.

Mephiles growled so his old adversary could pay attention to him. Silver turned his head to face the source of the sound. The eerie presence locked eyes with him. If he had a mouth, a demonic smile would be on his face.

"Long time no see, my silver friend," he said while he continued to stare into Silver's eyes.

Silver started to feel threatened by this strange being so he kept his guard up.

"H-hello," he said, feeling anxious.

"Purple cat got your tongue," he said with a laugh to make him upset.

Tikal and Light Gaia noticed the toxic tension between the two. The peach echidna snapped her fingers so Silver could look towards her instead of Mephiles.

"That's enough, Mephiles. We have to treat our visitors with respect especially since we don't get a lot of them too often in this place," she said to defuse a potential fight.

Mephiles breathed out a sigh of dissatisfaction. Chip and him continued their chess match. Unsurprisingly, he was the victor. He won a series of matches before this one without cheating but thought it humorous to see the imp's face change when he realizes that he's been had.

Silver slowly inhaled and exhaled a few times to relax and looked around at the strange world. Its only signs of civilizations were standing on a small island with him. The sky above was a clear blue with a yellow sun shining on them. The place itself looked normal but the people were a bit...off.

"What about Chaos," he asked.

"I don't know what you mean. You already saw Chaos but I guess I didn't properly introduce him. Sorry," Tikal said before leading him to the water they just swam out of.

Tikal looked at her reflection and saw Silver's befuddled face.

"Silver, this is Chaos," she said, excitedly anticipating his reaction.

Suddenly, a loud and thunderous roar filled the air. Silver was startled by this and positioned himself into his battle stance. Tikal looked at the terrified hedgehog with a grin.

"He won't hurt you. Well, as long as he isn't provoked anyway."

"I was swimming inside of a god," he asked, nervously staring at the rippling water.

Silver saw the echidna's reflection nod.

"Amazing," was all the awestruck hedgehog could say, "So, he was once the god of destruction?"

"Yes, my father tried to steal the sacred Emeralds so my friend went into a fit of rage and...destroyed most of them. At that point, we were just like the Nocturnus Clan that mysteriously disappeared one day," Tikal said with a tear drop coming out of one of her eyes. (reference: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood)

The drop fell into the water in front of them.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Silver said as he wiped part of her face with his gloved hand, causing her to smile.

Another powerful roar shook the world.

"It's okay. I'm fine, Chaos," she said before smiling again to give him assurance.

A thought appeared in Silver's mind.

"Tikal, what happened to Blaze," he asked, concerned about the welfare of his closest friend.

* * *

 **Above the ocean around Angel Island (Earlier)...**

Blaze and Silver were falling along with island. The cat was screaming as her worst fears were coming true.

"Is this how it ends," she asked herself.

Blaze closed her eyes and waited for her body to hit the water's unforgiving surface. Sensing their guardian in distress, the Sol Emeralds started to glow in her clothes. Energy surged through her body, activating her super form.

She opened her eyes and saw her unconscious friend still falling. Blaze also noticed that she was able to fly thanks to the Sol Emeralds' support. The purple cat caught him by his wrist.

"Now, I have to go help the others," she said to herself while carrying Silver.

Blaze traveled to where she saw her friends fall but noticed a bleeding fox carry an echidna to shore. She was about to swoop in until two figures appeared on the beach and started grabbing green, glowing, objects slightly buried in the sand. Then, the figures grabbed the pair that fell from above. The island finally landed in the water, unleashing a giant wave. The people holding the bodies started to flee, one choosing to run while the other flew.

"That looked like Shadow and Rouge; I guess those two are in G.U.N.'s care now," she thought before glancing at Silver, "I better take him somewhere safe."

 **Mystic Ruins...**

Sonic raced through the rain forest, unable to use his top speed since he had to dodge a lot of trees on the way to the Angel Island crash site. He ran until he heard a very unpleasant sound under his shoes. The speedster came to halt, spraying a bit of mud in front of him.

While he was disappointed about his new shoes being dirty, he noticed flashing lights from cop cars and ambulance trucks. Shadow was helping the medical staff with a stretcher that had Tails strapped down on it.

"Tails," the cobalt blue hero exclaimed, alerting Shadow.

Sonic ran past the G.U.N. agent and was close enough to see his friend's bloody body being loaded into the back of the truck. He turned his attention to Shadow after the doors closed.

"Is he alive," Sonic asked, not even attempting to hide his pain with his usual cocky attitude.

Shadow never saw this side of his rival before. He saw the discomfort in Sonic's expression.

"Yes, Tails is badly hurt but alive," Shadow said truthfully, "He's doing a lot better than Knuckles."

Shadow pointed to Rouge who was dragging her gloved fingers through his red quills and whispering something to him even though he couldn't possibly hear her. The bat looked a bit glum but she masked it when Sonic came into view.

"Hey, Big Blue. I guess you're not here to see me," she said seductively.

Sonic wasn't in the mood for Rouge's 'games' and went straight to the point.

"Rouge, how is Knuckles?"

"They said he will be able to pull through but he might not be in the condition to fight for a while," Rouge said, continuing to hide her worry for the hot-headed echidna.

Sonic wanted to follow the ambulance trucks that were getting further and further away but he needed to ask Shadow something.

"Shadow, Amy's been kidnapped again," Sonic said with a sigh.

"You usually would have her saved by now."

"If I had Tails with me, she would have been out of Egghead's hands. He's the one that usually locates Amy. Do you know where Eggman is, Shadow?"

"Our intel suggested that Eggman was in Metropolis. Rouge and I tried to infiltrate his base yesterday but we had to retreat because of the amount of security Eggman had there."

Shadow thought of the illusion of Maria with a bit of regret.

"So, Eggman must be keeping her captive there. He likes to keep her close so he could lure me out. This time, it seems as if he doesn't want me to come right away," Sonic said, thinking of all the things Amy could be going through at this very moment.

Meanwhile...

Cream saw Tails' body on the stretcher.

"Whatever happened to Tails, it's really bad," the rabbit said, feeling dejected.

"Chao chao," Cheese said, appearing to be dispirited as well.

They looked in the direction of the sun to see the time of day. The sun was setting, changing the sky's colors to a palette of warmer colors.

"It's getting late, Cheese. Let's go home," she said, ready to fly to her mother's house on the peaceful hill side.

* * *

 **In the Death Lab (Present Night)...**

Eggman's construction bots finally finished the wiring in the walls so their creator could control the rubies with the push of a button and a device that can project complex signals and commands from his brain hidden inside of his glove.

The pink hedgehog was still being affected by the potent chemicals. Her dream world was not a place where she wanted to find solace from the real world since Infinite's illusions made the occurrence of nightmares even more likely.

Amy was running as fast as she could from the frightening shadow she saw and talked to earlier in reality.

He hasn't saved you yet because he hates you.

"That's not true! Maybe there's a lot of crime lately and...and...he's really busy..."

Stop making excuses for him. And stop running away from me, Amy Rose.

As she feared, the being of darkness finally caught up to her when she tripped. Amy was only able to slowly back away from her pursuer before being pinned down. She tried to struggle out of the beast's grasp but each time she did, the opposing force appeared to be gaining more strength. The creature lifted up a hand with blood soaked claws. Its prey was weak from the struggling so it was ready to attack. Before the claws came in contact with her skin, Amy woke up in a cold sweat.

At Eggman's base/Surveillance Room...

Eggman smiled as he pressed a button on his console, causing the rubies to resonate and form an illusion that changed the layout of the room. The walls, allowing her to see the cycle of day and night, appeared as plexiglass while the floor seemed to be part of a verdant plain. Birds were chirping outside of her glass prison.


	6. Chapter 6: Driven by Anger

Chapter 6: Driven By Anger

 **In the Death Lab (Night/Day for Amy)...**

Amy looked around at her living quarters which seemed to change a bit after she awoke from her nightmare. She wiped her eyes so she could see the world clearly.

"What is this? Did he move me or is this how this room works? I don't know but it is a gorgeous sight," the hedgie thought as she looked through the glass.

She started having fantasies about Sonic running through the fields with her in his heroic arms. The love-sick girl still believed her hero would come for her.

"Do you like the view outside? Does it remind you of freedom," Eggman said into the microphone, causing Amy to turn around with her brows furrowed.

"Eggman, why are you keeping me here," she asked with her anger slowly building up inside.

"I'm not going to tell you why you're here. What I can tell you is that while you are in this phase of the plan, you will be fighting for your food."

"You want me to fight for my life. That's not so bad. I do that all the time with my friends."

"Yes, but this time I will give you a real challenge worthy of a reward," he stated before pressing a button that raised up one of the walls as he did before.

Amy looked at the opening and bolted towards her way out.

"Finally, my ticket to freedom! I can get out of here! I can see Sonic again," she thought with a jovial tone.

In her effort to leave the room, she didn't hear something getting closer to the room's entrance. It stood there, waiting for its target to be within range.

Eggman laughed as he watched her running, hope filling her eyes as she tried to leave the lab. The pink hedgehog finally made it to her destination and was about to exit her prison when a figure from the darkness kicked her away with a mechanical foot. Her body flew into one of the glass walls, injuring her head and back.

She fell to the floor. Amy struggled to get on her hands and knees. A hammer appeared in her hand and she used it to lift herself up.

"Is that...a...gizoid? Why does he have that? How does he have that," she asked herself as she finally saw her attacker step out of the obscuring darkness.

I think you have to worry about that later. Right now, worry about how you're actually going to win this fight. If you don't, your precious hero won't be able to save you.

The hedgehog managed to get a better grip of her hammer, she stared into her enemy's artificial eyes. It reminded her of Emerl (ref. Sonic Battle).

"I don't care if you remind me of him, I will destroy you," she shouted, charging at it with her trusty hammer.

 **Eggman's Lab/ Surveillance Room...**

The scientist was enjoying the show until he heard a noise behind his chair. He turned around to see one of his minions carrying a case that had green light coming from it.

"I see you have some of the Emerald shards. Why didn't you arrive with the case earlier," Eggman asked, waiting for the fox's answer.

They opened their mouth and their lips were moving but no sound came from them. This annoyed the evil scientist until he remembered something he was working on earlier. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black communicator.

"Try this on. I made it to solve your...problem," he said as he handed it over to them.

They put it on their wrist. Spikes appeared and dug into the fox's artificial arm. After the metal pierced their 'skin', they were alarmed and dropped the case they were holding. The fox expected to feel pain but only saw oil leaking out of their punctured appendage.

"Huh, what is this," the fox asked no one in particular since they didn't expect words to come out.

Suddenly, it dawned on them that their ability to speak has returned. While they were worried about the oil leaking out of their arm, the fact that they were able to speak again was more alarming to them.

"Judging by your reaction, it seems you haven't been able to talk for a long time. Allow me to inform you on how your new 'toy' works. The wristwatch is powered by an artificial Chaos Emerald which allows your thoughts to turn into words that are projected when you move your lips. The watch also decides how your voice will sound like; the decision is usually determined by a voice you have heard recently or one that your mind decides is the most appropriate," Eggman explained, feeling pleased with himself and his new invention.

His convoluted explanation went right over the fox's head but they were still happy to be able to communicate in a very efficient manner again.

"I can finally speak again after all these years. After what my fa- what that man did- I didn't think I would be able to. Now that I can speak, I want to ask the doctor about something peculiar that happened while I was in Emerald Town," they thought while looking at the watch displaying a visual representation of the sound waves from their voice on its screen.

 **Earlier in Emerald Town...**

The 'rookie' was on their way to deliver the shards but started to get tired so they Chaos Controlled to an area nearby in the hopes that delicious food will give them energy. The small town looked pretty inviting with people laughing and children playing as the afternoon sun shined on their joy filled faces.

"Wow, this place hasn't changed a bit since I recently moved to Central City. Too bad I can't go sight seeing. I have to deliver these Emerald shards to Dr. Eggman so I unfortunately can't stay here," the fox thought, their ears drooping.

While they looked around to find their favorite restaurant, the 'rookie' started to gain some more of their memories they lost from when they 'died'.

They started to remember all of the terrible things that happened to them here and their anger slowly started to rise.

"Now, I remember why I left in the first place. It was because of them. They bullied me when I lost my home, calling me tail-less trash," the fox thought, growling as the anger threatened to burn their insides.

As if to break them out of their thoughts, many people started to run and scream.

"What the...What is going on," they thought as they looked around to find the cause of the chaos.

An army of Eggman's robots arrived, led by Infinite. He commanded them to capture people who were skilled fighters, chefs, and medical personnel. In order to find capable warriors, they scanned for anyone who owned a wispon or able to defeat one of Eggman's mechanical troops. Anyone who did not fill any of these descriptions were captured because they were close relatives of the people involved.

The fox watched as people were paralyzed by the stasis rifles built into a large number of the robots. Their immobilized bodies were loaded into large cages. Infinite feasted on the turmoil that was all around him. This is the happiest he's been in a while; he felt the screams were so pleasurable because it lets him know how much power he has over his prisoners.

"That's right. Keep screaming," he shouted before a twisted laugh came from behind his mask.

The 'rookie' wanted to leave but seeing the people who made their life difficult when they lived in this town get locked up in those cages made a part of them feel overjoyed.

"I should probably leave before I get caught up in the confusion," they thought before a beam of light was headed right for them.

Luckily, the 'rookie' managed to dodge it. They looked to see who aimed for them. One of the robots had electricity pulsing outside of their weapon.

"TARGET PREVIOUSLY OWNED A WISPON. MUST CAPTURE AT ALL COSTS," it said as it was ready to fire once again.

Its target was prepared to dodge another blast until the metal nuisance exploded. The fox stared at the scrap before their 'savior' appeared. Their 'hero' was also their worst nightmare.

"I see. It's you. I'm not surprised to see you cowering and pleading for life. I would kill you but the doctor says he has a use for you," Infinite said with a bitterness before he landed in front of his rival.

The fox didn't want to work with Infinite but they didn't want the jackal to kill them either. In the corner of his eye, Infinite noticed the robots aim at him.

"What is wrong with you useless pieces of scrap? Why are you trying to capture me," he asked with his usual calm demeanor.

"TARGET HAS FULFILLED ONE OF THE CAPTURE REQUIREMENTS. PREPARING TO PARALYZE TARGET," they recited as they aimed at the jackal.

Infinite activated the Phantom Ruby and stayed close to the 'rookie' to guard them from the incoming beams. Inside of the ruby red force field that the jewel produced, the mercenary was thinking of a plan to get them out of their current mess while the fox was a bit in the dark about what was happening.

"Did he just save me again? So as long as I am useful to Eggman, he has to keep me safe? This would be great if we weren't trapped here," the 'rookie' thought while looking at Infinite who had his back to them.

"Not only do I have to find a way out of this mess, I have to bring the prisoners to Eggman's base and make sure nothing happens to this coward," Infinite thought while glancing at the confused fox behind him.

"I wish I had my wispon right now. If I did, I might have been able to clear a path for us. Maybe I am just tail-less trash...Wait...I could just use Chaos Control to teleport away from all of this," they thought, feeling as if they struck genius.

The fox activated the fake Chaos Emerald in their helmet. The light coming out of the gem was so bright that Infinite couldn't resist looking back so he could see what was happening. Before the jackal could say anything, the fox disappeared.

"Did that weakling just leave me behind," Infinite asked himself while hiding his growing frustration.

The jackal wanted to destroy every single piece of his rival until a light appeared between the army of robots and his force field. When the light appeared, the robots stopped firing and started to scan this anomaly. The light disappeared and in its place was the 'rookie' with their eyes closed.

The red-eyed fox expected to be away from the chaos when they opened their eyes but what actually happened was a different story. Their eyes opened and revealed that they were warped directly into the danger. They still weren't very experienced with the Emerald's power which caused this mishap.

The fox started to panic and tried to use Chaos Control but the danger in front of them made concentrating difficult so their efforts were ineffective. When the robots stopped scanning for data, they prepared their weapons again. The 'rookie' came to the unfortunate realization that whatever they tried to do to escape would be pointless. They closed their eyes and accepted their fate.

All they saw was darkness. The fox waited for the beams to strike their, mostly metallic, body. While they only saw the endless darkness, the former Resistance operative heard a man's voice.

Don't worry. I will always be there for you. You and your mother. I won't let anything happen to us. I swore that I would keep all three of us safe...

"You...liar," the fox thought as they balled up their metallic fists and started to feel their anger return.

Strange energy began to move through their body. The energy's source was the fake Emerald in their helmet. The agitated fox opened their eyes, their irises shining brighter than usual. The beams that were fired at them seemed to move in slow motion. The fox dodged them with ease.

The 'rookie' regained the memory of Infinite commanding one of his sentries to shoot the lightning wispon which caused the electricity inside of it to electrocute the helpless fox.

The sensation going through their body felt like the electricity that surged through them during the incident. Their body was overflowing with it. The surplus of energy was making the fox feel as if they were going to burst into pieces if they didn't dispel it. As if it was by instinct, they held their hands out in front of them and released two very powerful bolts of lightning from their palms.

Infinite watched as the electric streams went from robot to robot, frying the circuits of every single one in their path until they reached the center. The two bolts connected and blew up every single one of them.

The fox dropped to their knees after it was over. They were left feeling tired once again and started to pant.

For once, Infinite was speechless. He deactivated his Phantom Ruby which allowed the force field to disappear. The curious jackel walked towards the exhausted fox.

"I...don't know what just happened but I do know that you saved me a whole lot of trouble of getting rid of them myself. Anyway, I should finish my mission," he said before walking past the fox that was still struggling to catch their breath.

At a hospital in Central City (Present Night)...

Blaze watched the moonlight shine on her unconscious, silver, friend.

"I know that the doctors said that they were not to sure on when you would wake up but I believe in you, Silver," the cat said to him, hoping that he would respond and say something that would put her mind at ease.

A lot of different things were racing through her mind.

"The Sol Emeralds have scattered in this world again. I was hoping that we didn't need them but they kinda activated themselves. I don't want one of the Eggmen to get their hands on any of them or for the two dimensions to come together. It is my job to keep the Emeralds out of the wrong hands but I want to be with Silver. I want him to be safe. Maybe I should think about this in the morning," Blaze thought before she nodded off.

* * *

( **Location: Unknown/ Time: Nonexistent)...**

Silver was somehow able to get familiar with the strange place he found himself in. When Tikal noticed him finally being more relaxed here, she grabbed Silver's hand and decided to take him somewhere else.

"Where are we going, Tikal," he asked before they stopped.

"We are going to a place that holds unbelievable amounts of information about literally everything from Chaos to pocket lint," she said before a building that appeared to be a gigantic library materialized into existence.

Silver stared at it in amazement. Tikal took his hand again and they stepped inside of it.

"Silver, welcome to the Archives," the echidna announced cheerfully, her voice echoing.

"Wow, it's hard to believe that a place like this exist."

"Yes, it truly is a wonder...So, the reason why you're here because a catastrophic event will happen in the near future. Silver, you have experienced many different timelines and somehow you remember the events of some of them. Your body is so accustomed to them that you have these special sensations, or 'distortions' as you call them, when an event threatens to make a new timeline. Even now, you are feeling the distortions of the Chaos Dimension's Past."

The hedgehog nodded.

"Can you tell me what is going to happen or how I can prevent it," he asked.

"I can't give you the details because I don't know myself. Chaos was very selective when he relayed the information to me. What he basically said was that there were too many timelines and we need to get rid of most of them. Keeping every single one around may put the very fabric of the universe in danger. The only thing I could say that might possibly prevent this from happening is to tell your friends not to go backwards or forward in time. You can also prevent that event I mentioned from happening. Unfortunately, that means you can't go home for a while until we sort this out."

"So I'm stuck in the past until we find out what triggers the catastrophe and Chaos deletes some of the alternate flows of time? Why didn't you guys already get rid of them?"

"We would have done it a lot earlier but certain restrictions prevented us from doing so...for...example..." Tikal said while looking for a certain book, "I'll be back."

While Tikal was searching for the book, the curious hedgehog was drawn to one of them. He picked it up and observed the picture on the cover. What he saw surprised him. It was him with green light coming from his hands. The title read, "The Life Story of Silver the Hedgehog." He opened the book and a bright light blinded him.

The echidna wasn't very successful in her search so she went back to where she left Silver. His biography was on the floor, closed.

"Oh no. Did Silver try to read one of these? I should have warned him first," she said with a sigh.

Tikal scrutinized the tome and guessed that Silver was definitely inside of it.

"I should send in help. The assistant I'm going to summon will be his closest friend," the echidna thought before Chaos possessed her body and started to recite an ancient chant.


	7. Chapter 7: No More Miracles

AN: Thank you to everyone who made one thousand six hundred views possible.

* * *

Chapter 7: No More Miracles

 **In the Death Lab (The Next Day)...**

Amy was exhausted but couldn't rest because a second of sleep could possibly mean death. The pink hedgehog continued to dodge her enemy's barrage of attacks.  
After a while of staying on the offense with various melee attacks, it suddenly came to a halt to assess its current situation. The mechanical warrior took a couple of steps backwards, transformed one of his hands into a gun. As the gun's barrel was pointed at her tired body, Amy tried to summon a massive Piko Piko hammer to defend her. Her plan worked but she couldn't see what her adversary was planning to do next.

Meanwhile, her metallic foe transformed its hand back and fell on it's 'knees'. Smoke started to appear from it. While it was overheating, Amy started to smell burning oil from the other side of her hammer. She took a peek and saw the perfect opportunity to attack.

The pink hedgehog tightly gripped the hammer that was keeping her up again and ran towards the gizoid at full speed (or as much speed as she could build up from her worn out body). She mercilessly swung her weapon at it with a face that made her out to be a wild animal. She felt accomplished as her enemy was in pieces on the floor, reduced to a mere pile of scrap metal. Oil coated her body and made her smell even worse. The liquid was very warm and reminded her of blood for some reason she couldn't fully comprehend at the moment but she didn't really care about that.

Based on what Eggman said last time, she waited for her reward. A few seconds after she put her weapon away, the same waiter came in with the peculiar meat and a glass of milk this time. She happily consumed her two prizes and lied down on the oily floor.

 **At Eggman's base/Surveillance Room...**

Eggman was watching through the screens and was impressed at how much information he was getting from his test subject.

"She seems to be slowly regressing into feral territory. The problem is she only has the appearance of a wild animal and she still carries the mental capabilities of a human. I need to be careful not to make her go insane. I could lose an invaluable part of the plan. It won't be like those other plans that failed because I couldn't see the holes in them or saw them and didn't care. Of course I have to fix the programming in the rest of my badniks after what happened in Emerald Town. I need the best of the best to go against the blue rodent. Urgh! Thinking of that blue nightmare is the only reason why I'm passionate about my work and it somewhat astounds me. Fortunately, when this is all over, I could finally build my true vision," he said to himself with a big and toothy grin.

* * *

 **(Location: Unknown/Time: Nonexistent)**

Blaze opened her eyes and was taken aback at what she saw. It was a female echidna, who was fidgeting and sweating bullets, standing right in front of her in a place that seemed unfamiliar to her.

"Hello, Princess Blaze. I called you here because Silver needs your help," she said to inform her on the urgency of the situation.

"Is this the reason why he's been asleep for a while?"

Tikal nodded.

"I see. So how can I help, miss..."

"My name is Tikal. No need to address me with such formalities. Of course I don't know if you want to be addressed as Princess Blaze."

Despite the serious situation, Blazed chuckled a little when she said this.

"You can just call me Blaze," she replied with a grin.

"Okay. Now that we got that out of the way, I'll show you the trouble your friend is in," the echidna said as she picked up the book with Silver on the cover.

As she slowly opened the book, the curious cat tried to look inside but Tikal stopped her.

"You will have the same fate as Silver if you look into this book. The only reason it hasn't happened to me is because Chaos is keeping me here," she said before continuing to scrutinize the pages' contents.

While Tikal was looking into the tome, Blaze thought of what Tikal said about what happened to Silver and what she was most likely summoned here to do.

"Let me see what I was told so far. Silver was sucked into his own biography. He is basically in a world that literally centers on him. If the point is to bring me into that sort of place then I need to be careful because I could see something really personal. I hope this isn't the case..."

Tikal's face lit up when she finally sensed which page Silver was on or at least the one they were looking for.

"I found him! He's at the point when Iblis first appeared."

"That's great but why do I have to help him go through his own life?"

"There was a book that I wanted to give to Silver so he could understand the gravity of his destiny. A book that's right...here."

The echidna found the book on the shelf that was labeled under a sign that read "Forgotten Timelines" like Silver's own biography.

"Please, take this to Silver. The literal structure of the universe depends on him getting this."

Blaze grabbed the book and clearly showed signs of struggling to hold it.

"Now, I should send you in," she said before showing the cat the pages of the tome.

The book proceeded to suck her into its contents.

* * *

 **Eggman's Base/Barracks...**

The 'rookie' lied down in their semi-comfortable bed, with their arms behind their head, ruminating.

"If I could remember this correctly, I was in this...Resistance. I was one of the strongest soldiers...I think. When I saw those two guys on Angel Island, they reminded me of this. But...why did I fight for them in the first place? And...why is my tail missing? It couldn't be Dr. Eggman because I remember the neighborhood kids calling me trash since I didn't have one before this. Hmm..."

They sat up in the bed and looked at the arm that was leaking oil before. It was then that they noticed that something seemed off about their arms. The confused fox slowly peeled off their "skin" and saw something that made them gasp. The "skin" was actually made of an odd and fibrous material. Their fur was actually orange-colored cotton. Under the skin and fur was a fully metallic appendage. Seeing their arm being entirely made of metal created more questions.

"Am I...am I just an experiment? Or an android? Maybe everything I think I know was programmed by someone in the Resistance and the doctor...saved me. Is he my new master?"

 **At the GUN Base...**

Sonic and Shadow were giving each other the information they had about what was going on.

"So far, we know that Eggman is using something that is or is like the Phantom Ruby to create illusions. Amy was kidnapped by Eggman again. Tails and Knuckles were blown off of Angel Island by a plane. Some GUN soldiers that were stationed in Mystic Ruins were able to tell us some of the things that unfolded that day."

"Okay. We have Tails and Knuckles in a safe place so all we need to do is save Amy and possibly get all of the Emeralds," Sonic said with his usual confidence.

"You're saying that like it would be a piece of cake," Shadow replied with his arms crossed.

"Every time Eggman appears with an evil scheme, we defeat him easily. I'll admit that he seems to be escalating and what he did to Tails and Knuckles was horrible but we've always come out on top. Egghead never wins," Sonic said with a smile and thumbs up.

"In case you forgot, he won before. The only reason we managed to take back the world was sheer luck. So many people died and I doubt we'll get another person like the rookie when you get captured by Eggman again. Even so, the only reason that they were successful was because they had help from a younger version of you."

Sonic didn't know what to say to this. The smile he had before became a frown.

"All I'm saying is that we need to be a lot more careful when we deal with Eggman from now on. I don't think the world wants another miracle to appear at the last moment like that again. Last time was too close for comfort," the black and red hedgehog said with all seriousness.

The blue hedgehog realized that he didn't know what the world was like while he was in the Prison Hall. The world was a darker place when Sonic was gone and Shadow's face displayed what almost everyone felt at that time.

"The reason why we lost last time was because we were caught surprise but we now know what the worse looks like so we're more prepared this time. Plus, I can see his plan from a mile away unlike last time. He's keeping Amy there as a hostage. The reason why he kept this information from me was because he's stalling. It's pretty obvious that he is building a giant robot like he always does or summoning some magical creature to stop us. He's done all of this before," Sonic explained after his smile returned.

"Fine. Even if this is the same as all of those other times, attacking when he least expects it should be our priority or at least getting rid of the illusions. Since you're so confident, got anything that can help us?"

Sonic thought about the one of the copies of the Phantom Ruby he had on his person.

"I got this but I don't know how to use it," he said as he pulled the jewel out.

Shadow's eyes looked upon the ruby. It reminded him of his battle with Infinite.

"I wonder if that figure that looked like Maria was his way of messing with me," Shadow thought before a smirk appeared across his muzzle, "This may be more interesting than I previously thought."

 **Eggman's Base/Death Lab (Afternoon)...**

After Amy managed to have a long rest, she woke up and looked at the sky. It was her only form of entertainment. She loved to look at the sunset on the horizon and the sunrise appearing in a similar fashion. To her, its been six days since she finally started counting the amount of time she's been there. Eggman doesn't feed her every 'day', making her feel as if he's actually trying to kill her. As the 'days' passed, she lost more and more hope of getting rescued.

Finally, after what seemed to be a very long time to Amy, the entrance to the room opened. A gizoid came out of the shadows like last time. But unlike last time, the mechanical menace immediately made its gun appear. Amy made the first giant hammer disappear and then reappear above her enemy. Before the huge weapon crushed her enemy, a round managed to graze her. Her face had a small scratch on it but she was relieved that it wasn't worse than that. After having a near-death experience, the pink hedgehog dropped to her knees and put her hand over her heart to see if it was still beating. Fortunately for her, it was. Amy made the giant hammer disappear. Afterwards, the waiter is back again for the second time today but to Amy, it's been longer than that. She was drooling as the plate hit the floor along with a cold glass of fruit juice.

The pink hedgehog sunk her teeth into the strange meat again. She ate as if it was going to be her last meal.

 _You're just playing into their hands at this point. I guess he isn't coming anyway so you might as well. Face it. He isn't going to rescue you and you're wasting your energy denying reality. Do you even care about what you're eating? Do you even know what it is?_

"Well, what am I supposed to do? I can't just starve to death. And why wouldn't Sonic come? He loves me," Amy thought as she finished off her meal.

 _You...you are so delusional that it's actually amazing. I'm not even being sarcastic. Listen, he always runs away from you like you have a disease or something._

"He's just being shy. Sonic loves me. I see it in his eyes before he runs away from me," she said with a blush.

 _That reasoning_ _actually sickens me. Yes, I have seen that look before. It was the look of guy that doesn't want to be with you. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought you were a stalker or something._

"I'm not obsessed with him. I just have his portrait on my wall, my floor, on my pajamas, and my underwear."

 _I knew about the underwear thing but I didn't want you to feed the information to me. Anyway, I think you need therapy. One that's far away from Sonic as possible. I'm surprised that he doesn't have a restraining order against you._

"Oh my Chaos. I just realized that I'm going crazy," she said while holding her head.

 _"Going" implies that you haven't been crazy before we got here. That's not true. It's just...worse._

Amy ignored that strange voice in her head, drunk her juice, and waited for the next battle or to be rescued.

Unfortunately, she saw the entrance open and another gizoid appeared from the darkness.

She got into her fighting position.

 _I have a feeling that this battle will be very interesting._

After Amy disregarded the voice once again, she wasted no time swinging her hammer to damage the robotic combatant. While delivering the final blow, the room changed into how it originally was and the oil turned into blood. The gizoid was transformed into a Mobian cowering and pleading for his life. All of this was happening but Amy didn't notice. The room returned to what Amy saw it as before when the blow connected. Her victim hit the floor, shown to be a destroyed gizoid.

"Wow. It feels like this is getting easier and easier, This must be what Sonic feels when he defeats Eggman. It's so...amazing," she thought with a smile.

 _Did you see that?_

"See what," Amy asked as she observed the area, "I don't see anything."

 _Never mind. You'll find out later. I guess that proves that you're losing your grip on whatever amount of sanity you had left._

* * *

 **Location: Unknown/Time: Nonexistent...**

Tikal was floating inside of Chaos. She was contemplating her hasty decision of sending Blaze into the book.

"I don't know if what I did was the right thing. Blaze could possibly be affected negatively by this. She would be peering at the most miserable part of her entire existence. Even her own demise...I wonder if it was a good idea to relocate her to a different dimension in the first place? Looks like our past actions is coming back to haunt us. Isn't it, Chaos," she asked with a sigh.

Chaos roared in agreement.

"I didn't want to do that to Blaze but we needed Iblis gone...forever. It's one thing to blow a fire out and 'kill' it temporarily but it's another thing to actually seal it away and keep Blaze intact at the same time. It was the perfect opportunity so there seemed to be no way around it."

Tikal closed her eyes and let her anxiety be taken away by the feeling of the water around her.

"Iblis making an appearance again would be terrible. Maybe everything will be fine. It only appeared in Blaze's fire powers. It's not like she has all of the pieces of Iblis within her being. But some are in Silver's..."

* * *

 **At the GUN base/Infirmary (Tails's Room)...**

Sonic was sitting on a chair, watching Tails as he slept peacefully on the hospital bed.

"Hey, Tails," he said to his unconscious friend.

He was hoping that Tails would wake up and they would make amends. The comatose fox didn't budge.

"Tails, I'm sorry about making you feel like you were useless. I didn't mean to make you feel this way. Tails I...I wanted to talk to you about this before you stormed out. I guess I was too slow," Sonic joked.

The blue hedgehog waited for a sigh, an eye roll, or anything. Not seeing a single bit of evidence of Tails being his normal self made Sonic feel miserable. He felt that all of this was his fault. The deflated hedgehog thought about what Shadow said before.

"Shadow told me a bit about how everyone felt when I was incarcerated. He said that a lot of people lost their lives. I was almost too late and how we wouldn't find someone like the 'rookie' again. Even crediting their success to fighting along side the younger me. Basically, it was just luck that we won. So, is that how you feel too?"

After a couple of minutes of waiting for a response, Sonic said, "Goodbye," and left the room. When Sonic closed the door, one of Tails's eyes partially opened.


End file.
